Disk cartridge

ABSTRACT

A cartridge assembly ( 10 ) for holding disks or similar substrates includes a cassette ( 12 ) provided with a plurality of curved grooved channels ( 20 ) of substantially even channel width and at least one protruding feature ( 34. 36. 40 ) into each channel ( 20 ) for reducing the channel width, the protruding features ( 34, 36, 40 ) being provided as areas of greater channel wall thickness. The protrusions allow more compact storage of disks within the cartridge ( 10 ) while still ensuring that the disks do not touch one another during transportation and handling. One or more burrs ( 44 ) are also provided in each channel ( 20 ) to prevent or reduce disk spin during transportation of the cartridge ( 10 ). The assembly ( 10 ) is provided with an electronic tag operable to store and record data relating to the contents of the cartridge and/or transport and storage conditions, the tag being operable to store data relating to one or more of the date of manufacture, the place of manufacture, identification of the manufacturer, distribution history, warranty details, cartridge contents and to store transport and/or or storage conditions including temperature, humidity, vibration.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a disk cartridge or caddy of the typeable to carry memory disks for computer hard disk drives and similardisks or substrates.

SUMMARY OF THE PRIOR ART

Hard disk drive caddies are known in the art. They are generally used totransport hard drive disks from the point of manufacture to the point ofinstallation into a disk drive.

An example is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,382, which provides adisk cassette into which a plurality of disks or other substrates can beplaced in a secure manner and top and bottom covers for covering thedisk cassette. The disk cassette is provided with a plurality of curvedgrooved channels within each of which a disk can be held. The groovesensure that the disks do not touch one another during transportation.The cassette has a standard size for automated assembly purposes. Inpractice, the disks are not held tightly within the channels, to allowtheir easy removal by machine. The cartridges which have beenmanufactured hold at most 25 disks and this has become the industrystandard.

However, the prior art packages for shipment and storage of memory diskshave exhibited certain deficiencies, one of which being the limitationof the storage capacity to 25 disks. This limitation in capacity cannotbe simply addressed with existing designs of caddy. The limitation inthe capacity of the caddy has been as a result of needing to accommodatemanufacturing tolerances while ensuring that the disks do not touch oneanother when held in the caddy. Moreover, packages of this type havebecome standard in the art, leading to the development of automatedfilling and emptying systems specifically for these packages. As aresult, the equipment often is not suitable for other package types,particularly packages which hold the disks in a closer packedrelationship.

Moreover, the prior art packages cannot provide for tracking of thecaddies during manufacture, filling, transportation and unloading andcannot provide for the monitoring of the environmental conditionsthrough production and transportation. At best, a self adhesive label isprovided on the caddy, which is printed and attached manually bypersonnel.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide an improved cartridgeassembly for holding disks such as hard drive disks.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided acartridge assembly for holding disks or similar substrates including acassette provided with a plurality of curved grooved channels ofsubstantially even channel width and at least one protruding featureinto each channel for reducing the channel width.

Advantageously, there are provided a plurality of protruding features ineach channel. Preferably, the protruding features are provided as areasof greater channel wall thickness.

The protruding features provide tighter holding of disks within thechannels and thereby can reduce disk movement within the channels. Thisallows the disks to be stored with smaller disk angle relative to theorthogonal to an axis along which the disks are aligned. In prior artsystems, disks are held at a significant angle, which results in a lowerdisk holding capacity for the caddy. Thus, with the arrangementdisclosed herein, disks can be stored closer to one another within thecassette and thus there can be stored a greater number of disks within acassette of given dimensions. This is particularly useful for automationpurposes, since the known caddy has become an industry standard.

Another advantage of the protruding features is that they can be placedat locations within the curved channels such as to become effectivesubstantially only when a disk is almost fully inserted into thecassette. Thus, the protruding features do not affect the ease ofinsertion and removal of disks into and out of the cassette.

The provision of protrusions also has manufacturing benefits. Generally,the cassette would be formed from a plastics material, which cannotreadily be manufactured with very accurate tolerances at reasonable costin terms of time and expense. The protrusions, on the other hand, aresmall in size, which can ensure that less of the steel tooling willrequire modification to alter or tune the tightness of hold on the disksand related tolerance. This can be important in maximizing the diskcarrying capacity of the cassette.

In the preferred embodiment, there are provided protrusionssymmetrically arranged to hold a disk at opposing ends thereof.

In an embodiment, there is provided one or more burrs in each channel,preferably a plurality of burrs. The burrs are preferably located in oron a base of the channels. In some embodiments it is envisaged thatburrs could be provided on one or both of the side walls of eachchannel. The burrs serve to reduce or eliminate rotation of the diskswithin their channel during movement of the cassette. Advantageously,there are provided burrs in only a portion of the length of eachchannel, it not being necessary to have burrs along the whole length ofeach channel but could be so formed if preferred.

Preferably, the assembly is provided with an electronic tag operable tostore and record data relating to the contents of the cartridge and/ortransport and storage conditions. Advantageously, the tag can store datarelating to one or more of the date of manufacture, the place ofmanufacture, identification of the manufacturer, distribution history,warranty details. Preferably, the tag can store transport and/or orstorage conditions including temperature, humidity, vibration and so on,by means of suitable sensors on or in the assembly.

The tag may be provided with communication means such as radio frequencycommunication means.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda cartridge assembly for holding disks including a cassette providedwith a plurality of curved grooved channels of substantially evenchannel width and at least one friction element in a base wall of eachchannel.

The preferred embodiment can provide a disk package which affords equallevel of protection for disks carried therein but in a reduced volumeper disk. Preferably, it can provide a cartridge or caddy of externaldimensions similar to existing caddies so as to be compatible withexisting manufacturing facilities but which holds more disks than priorart caddies. Thus, all that may be required is a reprogramming ofautomated removal software for removing the disks from the caddy to takeinto account the greater number of disks.

The preferred embodiment can also overcome the disadvantages of theprior art by providing an integrated solution for tracking and conditionmonitoring of the cartridge or caddy during disk manufacture andtransport.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provideda cartridge assembly designed to hold memory disks or similar substrateswhich is capable of holding fifty disks.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is providedapparatus for removing disks from a cartridge including a lifteroperable to lift alternate ones of a series of disks in the cartridgeand a remover operable to remove the lifted disks.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the present invention are described below, by way ofexample only, with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of an embodiment of cassette for acartridge or caddy;

FIG. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the cassette of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is another perspective view of the cassette of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of a part of a cassette of the cartridge ofFIG. 1 showing a portion of some of the curved channels of the cassette;

FIG. 5 is a view in plan of a portion of the channels of FIG. 2 showingprotruding features thereof;

FIG. 6 is a view in front elevation of the channels of FIG. 3;

FIG. 7 is a view of a part of the channels of FIG. 2 showing in greaterdetails the burrs provided in the base walls thereof;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing the usage of the preferredelectronic tag; and

FIGS. 9 to 11 are schematic diagrams of an embodiment of disk liftingassembly.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, the cartridge or caddy (not shown in full)of the preferred embodiment shown is provided with external featuresequivalent to the caddy of U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,382 and to the industrystandards so as to be compatible with existing automated packing andhandling systems. The cartridge is provided with a cassette 12 whichholds a plurality of disks 18, in the preferred embodiment 50 disks, andupper and lower covers (not shown). The covers provide a double openingto the cassette 12 (top and bottom) for packing and unpacking purposesand allow the cartridges or caddies to be stacked on one another. Thecovers typically seal the cartridge from the environment to preventcontamination of disks held in the cartridge during handling in thefactory and during transportation. The covers are of conventional formand thus will not be described in detail herein.

The cassette 12 has features similar to those of conventional cassettesbut is modified with respect thereto to be able to hold 50 disks ormore, as shown by the number line in FIG. 1 and in FIG. 3. It achievesthis while retaining the same external footprint and sizing and to havethe other advantages taught herein. Described below are the principalmodifications relative to known cassettes. Other features common withknown cassettes are not described herein, and if necessary the reader isreferred to the disclosure in U.S. Pat. No. 4,557,382.

The embodiment of caddy disclosed herein is intended to be used to carryhard drive storage disks 18 and as such to be used repeatedly and to becompatible with robotized assembly systems.

Referring now also to FIG. 4, in which there is shown a portion of theinterior of the preferred embodiment of cassette 12. The cassette 12 isformed of two opposing sets of curved channels 20 which are separated bya gap 22 and held together by integral end walls 24. The side walls 24have a curved opening 26, of U-shape, which is used for the insertionand removal of disks or similar media, as described in U.S. Pat. No.4,557,382. The top ends 14 of the channels 20 (not shown) are straightand substantially parallel to the opposing channels of the other side ofthe cassette 12, such that in practice the edge of a disk 18 in achannel 20 is only held up to substantially the centerline of the disk.This allows the disk 18 to be slit out of the cassette 12 from above.

As is shown in FIG. 4, the channels 20, which have a radius of curvaturesubstantially equivalent to that of the disks or other media 18 whichthey are to hold, are formed by tapering upstanding walls 28 and bycurved base walls 30. The tapering walls 28 are substantially thinnerthan the walls of existing cassettes and thereby enable more channels 30to be provided in the same linear dimension than prior art cassettes.

FIG. 4 shows a plurality of burrs or serrations 32 at the lower end ofeach channel 20, which are described in further detail below.

Referring now to FIG. 5, there is shown a view of a portion of thechannels 20, in this view being the upper portions of the channels 20 onone side of the cartridge 12. Within each channel 20, formed on theinternal surfaces of the upstanding walls 28, there are provided firstand second opposing protruding features 34, 36. In this embodiment, theprotrusions 34, 36 extend in increasing manner to a peak into the spacewithin each channel 20 to provide a constriction within the channel 20.

In addition, there are provided radial protrusions 40 (preferably fourper channel 20) extending from the channel base walls 30. This allowsthe channel base walls to be made larger than the diameter of the disk18 and then to provide for the radial protrusions to reduce thiseffective diameter down to that of the disk. As with the protrusions 34,36, this ensures that manufacturing tolerances can be reduced with onlya small area of steel tooling being modified or adjusted to achieve suchtolerances.

In the preferred embodiment, there are provide two sets of protrudingfeatures 34, 36, 40, one set on each set of channels on each side of thecassette 12. The protruding features 34, 36, 40 are designed such thatthey hold firmly the edge of a disk located in the channel 20. Theprotruding features 34, 36, 40 are preferably located at a sufficientheight along the channels relative to the top of the cassette 12 thatthey provide a sufficient hold of a disk that its orientation within thechannel 20 does no substantially move. The protrusions are preferablylocated at the centre datum of line of the disks.

There may also be provided sets of protrusions close to the bottom endof the channels 20 and the bottom of the cassette 12. The advantage ofthese protrusions 34, 36, 40 is that they allow the disks to maintain asubstantially upright orientation when held in the cassette, that is anorientation orthogonal or nearly orthogonal to an axis along which thedisks are aligned in the cassette 12. This represents a substantialimprovement with respect to the actual orientation of disks in existingcassettes and thus enables disks to be placed significantly closer toone another.

Referring to FIG. 6, the protruding features 34, 36, 40 of FIG. 5 arebetter visible. As can be seen, these features 34, 36, 40 do not presentany sharp edge to a disk 18, which could otherwise cause disk damage.

It is envisaged in some embodiments that the protruding features couldextend a substantial way along the channels 30, for example to a pointjust above the centerline of the disk, to help prevent the disks fromtouching during automated loading but keeping the top of the disk slotsmore open to enable easier initial approach to the disk slots.

In the preferred embodiment, the protruding features 34, 36, 40 areformed during manufacture of the cassette 12. Typically, the cassette 12is formed from a plastics material and produced by a conventionalmolding process. The advantage of producing the features 34, 36, 40, onthe other hand, is that they are small in size, which can ensure thatless of the steel tooling will require modification to alter or tune thetightness of hold on the disks and related tolerance. Thus,manufacturing tolerances can be taken into account during the formationof the features 34, 36, 40. Typically, the features 34, 36, 40 are ofthe same plastics material as the cassette 12 and are produced by anaccurate production process, of a type which will be fully familiar tothe skilled person.

Referring now to FIGS. 4 and 7, at or proximate the lower extremities ofthe channels 20 there is provided a series of burrs or serrations 32 inthe base wall 30. These burrs 32 protrude slightly above the base wall30. They have the purpose of providing a friction surface against whichthe edge of a disk rests and as a result of which prevents or reducesthe rotation of a disk within a channel 20.

In the preferred embodiment, there are provided burrs 32 on both sets ofchannels 20 (that is on both sides of the cassette 12). However, only asingle set of burrs 32 may be provided in some embodiments. Similarly,the burrs 32 may also be formed on the upstanding walls 28 of thechannels 20, although this is not preferred, and could also be formed aspart of the protruding features 34, 36, 40.

The pitch of the channels 30 does not necessarily need to be twice thepitch of the channels of the prior art 25 disk caddy. The preferredembodiment is provided with a different pitch most convenient to fitwith the 50 disk while using all of the available room within thecassette internals and also making minimal impact on disk unloadingautomation by keeping the maximum space between discs. However, thepitch could be condensed to be exactly half that of existing 25 diskcaddies, which would potentially make it more convenient to modify theautomated systems that currently load/unload disks to/from 25 diskcaddies over to the new caddies taught herein. In this example, it isenvisaged that the system would load the 25 “even numbered” disks first,followed by the 25 “odd numbered” disks, or vice versa.

As can be seen in FIG. 3, the cassette 12 is also provided with anelectronic tag 50 having a plurality of sensors, a memory andcommunication means operable to sense and record environmentalconditions to which the cartridge 10 is put through (and thus also anydisks held therein) and also to store information about the disksthemselves. In the preferred embodiment, the tag can store data relatingto one or more of the date of manufacture, the place of manufacture,identification of the manufacturer, distribution history, warrantydetails, type of disks held in the cartridge. Preferably, the tag alsostores transport and/or or storage conditions including temperature,humidity, vibration and so on, by means of suitable sensors on or in theassembly. The communication means are preferably radio frequencycommunication means.

The specific details for the tag will be readily apparent to the skilledperson.

With reference to FIG. 8, the provision of the tag 50 enables accuratetracking of the cartridge and accurate maintenance of informationrelating to the contents and contents state, which has not been providedfor in prior art devices. In particular, it can monitor and provideinformation during the packing, shipping and unpacking cycles of thecartridge, including details of the cassette 12 itself. In the preferredembodiment, the tag 50 is provided with radio frequency communicationmeans operable to provide communication to a remote monitoring station,such as data relating to the attributes of the disks, and data storedtherein, and to provide feedback on the shipping progress.

Referring now to FIGS. 9 to 11, there is shown in schematic form anembodiment of disk retrieving assembly. Compared to conventionalcaddies, the embodiments of caddy disclosed herein space the disks muchcloser together to achieve the greater holding capacity within the samecaddy footprint. However, existing disk removal systems are specificallydesigned for the existing caddy designs and are not necessarily able tobe modified to lift disks which are more tightly packed. For example,one known lifting mechanism uses a gripper for gripping a disk edgeeither side thereof. The gripper needs a certain lateral space eitherside of the disk edge, which is not available when disks are too closelypacked. This is one reason why caddies have retained a 25 disk capacity,in order to provide greater disk spacing and of course to prevent diskstouching.

In FIGS. 9 to 11 there is shown one embodiment of system for retrievingdisks using a conventional retrieval gripper. FIGS. 9 to 11 areschematic diagrams as the person skilled in the art will readilyappreciate the components of the apparatus which would be used toimplement the taught features.

In FIG. 9 a plurality of disks 50 are shown in the arrangement in whichthey would be when located in the cassette 12 of the preceding Figures.As can be seen, the disks 50 are aligned along a common axis 52. In thisexample, the caddy and disks 50 are to be handled by a conventional diskgripper mechanism in which a gripper hand grips the opposing sides ofone edge of a disk 50 to be removed. The gripper hand requires asignificant lateral clearance either side of a disk 50 but the spacingof the disks 50 in this caddy is insufficient to accommodate thisrequirement.

In order to solve this problem, there is provide a castellated liftingelement 56 located below the disks 50 and in practice through the loweraperture in the caddy. The lifting element 56 includes a plurality ofraised castellations 58 which are spaced from one another by just over adisk 50 thickness.

The lifting element 56 is movable upwardly (in FIG. 9 it is in whatcould be called a lower position). When moved to an upper engagingposition, the castellations 58 urge alternate ones of the disks 50upwardly, as can be seen in FIG. 10, leaving the other disks 50 in theirlower rest positions. Thus, the disks 50 which have been raised can beremoved from the caddy by the conventional gripper despite the closespacing of the disks 50 in the caddy. Once those disks 50 have beenremoved, either the remaining disks can be removed from their lower restpositions, as shown in FIG. 11, by means of the gripper or these canalso be raised by the lifting element 56, which would then be offsetrelative to the position shown in FIGS. 10 and 11 by one disk spacing.

The preferred embodiments described above have the following features.They provide a transit caddy for hard disk platters and the like,including a top lid, a disk cassette, and a bottom cover. They have adouble opening (top and bottom) and are stackable. When fitted with bothlids, they maintain a seal to protect their contents againstenvironmental contamination in transit inside and outside factory. Thedisk cassette supports 50 disks (although can support other numbers ofdisks) through perimeter contact of a rounded side and separated byteeth or channel walls to ensure that the disks do not contact eachother at any time. The disks are separated by teeth or channel wallshaving an angular profile and a flat portion there between for perimetercontact with the disks. The clearance between the walls is reduced at apoint on each side that is level with the disk centre datum and at thelower contact points, maintaining higher tolerances, and allowing thedisks to be packed in closer proximity to state of the art packageswithout touching each other. Additionally, the lower contact points haveburrs or serrated features to promote multiple contact points,increasing the friction of a disk in the box and avoiding unintentionalspinning of the disk during processing or transport. A high packingdensity is further achieved by reducing the radius of outer corners ofthe box.

In the preferred embodiment, the fullest extent possible of the internalvolume of the caddy is used to accommodate the disks. To this end, nosignificant empty space is left at the ends of the caddy, in contrast toprior art caddies. This allows the disks to be spaced from one anotherby more than half the conventional spacing while still providing acapacity for 50 disks. In other embodiments, the spaces at either end ofthe caddy found in prior art designs is retained and the spacing betweenthe disks made half that of the conventional caddies to accommodate upto 50 disks. Alternatively, the spacing can be half that of conventionalcaddies with the ends also being used for accommodate disks; thisarrangement having achieved capacities of 58 disks in the same footprintas prior art caddies. Of course, it is envisaged in some embodimentsthat there could be a packing density less than 1/2 the spacing ofexisting caddies.

As the reader will have gathered, the caddies are typically used totransport hard disks from the manufacturing sites to the disk driveassembly sites. They are reusable many times following sufficientcleaning, and are recyclable. They fit into the complex roboticmanufacturing process. The caddies preferably conform to world classstandards for cleanliness and are manufactured from materials that willnot affect the disks with residues, dusts or particles.

The caddies incorporate an integral tag or smart card to enable thetransit caddies to monitor their conditions and store the data for laterretrieval by a separate reader unit. Sensors monitor temperature,humidity, dust, impact and contamination. Preferably, the tags or ‘smartlabels’ contain an integrated circuit which can be programmed withdetailed product information, such as the date and place of manufacture,distribution history and warranty details. Using radio frequencies, thesmart labels do not require a direct ‘line of sight’ to be scanned. Theinformation on smart labels can be re-programmed or added to without theneed to print and attach a new label.

1. A disk cartridge assembly for holding disks or similar substratesincluding a cassette provided with a plurality of curved groovedchannels of substantially even channel width and at least one protrudingfeature into each channel for reducing the channel width.
 2. A diskcartridge assembly according to claim 1, wherein there are provided aplurality of protruding features in each channel.
 3. A disk cartridgeassembly according to claim 1, wherein the at least one protrudingfeature is provided as areas of greater channel wall thickness.
 4. Adisk cartridge assembly according to claim 1, wherein there are providedprotrusions symmetrically arranged to hold a disk at opposing endsthereof.
 5. A disk cartridge assembly according to claim 1, whereinthere is provided at least one burr in each channel.
 6. A disk cartridgeassembly according to claim 5, wherein the burrs are located in a baseof the channels.
 7. A disk cartridge assembly according to claim 5,wherein the burrs are located on a base of the channels.
 8. A diskcartridge assembly according to claim 5, wherein there are providedburrs in only a portion of the length of each channel.
 9. A diskcartridge assembly according to claim 1, wherein the assembly isprovided with an electronic tag operable to store and record datarelating to at least one of: the contents of the cartridge, transportand storage conditions.
 10. A disk cartridge assembly according to claim9, wherein the tag is operable to store data relating to one or more ofthe date of manufacture, the place of manufacture, identification of themanufacturer, distribution history, warranty details, cartridgecontents.
 11. A disk cartridge assembly according to claim 9, whereinthe tag is operable to store at least one of transport and or storageconditions including temperature, humidity, vibration.
 12. A diskcartridge assembly according to claim 9, wherein the tag is providedwith communication means.
 13. A disk cartridge assembly for holdingdisks including a cassette provided with a plurality of curved groovedchannels of substantially even channel width and at least one frictionelement in a base wall of each channel.
 14. A disk cartridge assemblyaccording to claim 13, wherein the at least one friction element is aburr.
 15. A disk cartridge assembly according to claim 13, wherein theat least one burr is located in a base of the channels.
 16. A diskcartridge assembly according to claim 13, wherein the at least one burris located on a base of the channels.
 17. A disk cartridge assemblyaccording to claim 13, wherein there are provided burrs in only aportion of the length of each channel.
 18. A disk cartridge assemblyable to hold at least fifty disks.
 19. A disk cartridge assemblyaccording to claim 18, wherein the disks are memory disks.
 20. Apparatusfor removing disks from a cartridge including a lifter operable to liftalternate ones of a series of disks in the cartridge and a removeroperable to remove the lifted disks.